Eagle Ladies still looking for a Coach

The Centennial High School Girls Tennis Team are currently out of a coach for the 2009 season.  Brian Alvord has been the coach for the past numerous years but has moved to Texas.  So far the school has had consideration in hiring PE teacher Ms. Nelson as the new coach or Bill Cooper, father of the Boys #1 player Will Cooper.  I also gave this news to my friend and Centennial Alumni Wyatt Brock and he has applied for the position to coach the girls.  It will be an interesting and exciting season for the girls as they are searching for a new coach.

Prepping for the season

As the season is less than a month away I am starting to play more tennis to get myself back into shape.  I haven’t played tennis since October last year and my skills drifted away from me.  During the inactive period I’ve been working on my fitness and strength.  Running, push-ups, and sit-ups are my main excercises.  Running to gain the stamina to play long matches, push-ups for upper body strength, and sit-ups to work my abs to gain more speed around the court.  Now I’ve mainly been playing with my last season doubles partner and long time friend Derek to regain my skills.  Thanks to my training my serves have increased in speed greatly which helps keep the points short.  My groundstrokes still need more practice for improvement.  I am going to be ready for this season for it is my last as a high school senior.  My goal is to qualify for the state tournament.

3.5 level tennis player at Centennial

Several weeks ago a mutual friend of mine told me that her cousin from Iraq was coming to our school and is a really good tennis player.  Today my friend told me that the iraqi said he was a 3.5 level player.  3.5 is a pretty good level for high school tennis.  I am a 4.5 level player.  I know this guy will be playing as a doubles players for Centennial and I hope he can be successful at it.

Need More Heart

Since last season of Centennial tennis I tried getting better at the game. I competed in a tournament too to test my skills. I lost in the winners bracket and losers bracket too. Maybe that was too soon to test my skills but it’s wotleth it though because I’m still getting experience by playing against good players. My heart to win matches are not as strong as my opponents usually. I definately got the skills to put away points and rallys but not enough heart to fight for the very last point. One thing I don’t train enough is the mental game. There’s more than keeping composure and maintaining emotions. Hopefully by next season i’ll have the heart to win.

Will Cooper wins Glendoveer Challenger

Thus having cramps and a minor cold, WIll Cooper of Gresham competed at the Glendoveer Challenger Tournament at Glendoveer Tennis Center in Portland and won it in the Boys 16s Division.  Will Cooper is the #1 singles player for Centennial High since the 2008 season.  I have seen him play as a teammate for two years already and have witnissed his skills in the USTA tournaments at West Hills Challenger and this tournament Glendoveer Challenger.  Will Cooper is a tremendous player at 16 years of age but still lacks the mental composure needed to be even greater.  His temper seems to always fall short within the first set of his matches and leads to unnecessary errors.  Some could argue that it doesn’t matter since he wins his matches but he could also win matches that seem utterly impossible as long as he keeps his composure under heavy pressure.  Look out for Will Cooper in the 2009 season of Centennial Tennis.

Centennial Eagles Train for the 09 Season

Starting this school year at Centennial, introduced by senior Paul Chung, the boys and girls tennis teams will be having a after school tennis program for the team everyday.  Paul Chung informed everyone that players will be playing tennis at Centennial everyday weather permitting.  If all the players are consistently playing after school, the teams will be a strong force coming into the 2009 season in the Spring.